1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a handwritten information inputting device including a plurality of operational elements, each of which is assigned a defined function related to a process for handwritten information. The invention also relates to such a handwritten information inputting device configured to be connected to an information processing device coupled to a display apparatus or an information processing device incorporating a display screen. The invention further relates to a portable electronic apparatus including such a handwritten information inputting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As handwritten information inputting devices, digitizers and tablet devices are known. Generally, a handwritten information inputting device is a coordinate inputting device connected to and used with an information processing device equipped with a display screen, such as a computer connected to a display apparatus or a computer including a display screen, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-22661). In a handwritten information inputting device, when a pointing input operation is carried out on a position detection plane configured to detect two-dimensional position information of a position pointer, such as a pen-shaped pointer (hereinafter an “electronic pen”), a finger or the like, a position coordinate of the pointing input operation is detected and supplied to the information processing device. The information processing device generates, based on the position coordinate of the pointer's pointing input operation received from the handwritten information inputting device, image information corresponding to the handwritten input by the pointer and displays the image information on the screen of the display apparatus.
Some of the handwritten information inputting devices of the type described above include operational buttons or icons as operational elements for executing various processing functions, such as to move, rotate, expand/reduce, scroll, or change the display color of a handwritten or hand-drawn image displayed on a screen of a display apparatus.
Conventionally, in order to cause a handwritten information inputting device of the type described above to execute various processing functions described above, an operator of the handwritten information inputting device must shift his/her line of sight from a state in which the operator is staring at the screen of an external display apparatus of the handwritten information inputting device to the handwritten information inputting device itself, and confirm and operate an operational button of the handwritten information inputting device to initiate the function assigned to the operational button.
It is cumbersome, however, for the operator to have to shift his/her line of sight from the state in which the operator is staring at the screen of the external display apparatus to the handwritten information inputting device itself each time the operator of the handwritten information inputting device wishes to operate an operational button to initiate a defined processing function and, thus, the inputting operation described above is inefficient.
Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-88069) discloses an electronic apparatus including a remote control transmission device and an electronic apparatus main body having a display screen. The remote control transmission device includes a touch sensor provided on the surface of an operation key of the remote control transmission device such that, when the touch sensor detects that the operation key is touched, the electronic apparatus main body displays characters or the like on the display screen corresponding to the function assigned to the touched operation key. Specifically, in Patent Document 2, when the touch sensor detects that the operation key is touched, the remote control transmission device immediately transmits a remote control signal to the electronic apparatus main body to indicate that the operation key is touched. When the electronic apparatus main body receives the remote control signal, it determines which one of the operation keys has been touched and recognizes a function assigned to the determined operation key, and then displays the function on the screen to alert the user.